We could see former Invicta FC atomweight champion Michelle Waterson inside the Octagon in the near future.
Former Invicta champion Michelle Waterson in talks with UFC
According to MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani, ‘Karate Hottie’ is currently in talks with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), as reported on Wednesday’s edition of UFC Tonight.
Waterson (12-4) won the atomweight belt in 2013 against Jessica Penne, stopping her by submission in the fourth round, shocking the world. In September 2014, she defended her Invicta gold for the first time, dominating Yasuko Tamada and stopping her via TKO in the third round.
Waterson was expected to be one of the biggest stars of the all women’s Invicta promotion, following the filming of The Ultimate Fighter 20, which included the signing of a large amount of 115-pound strawweight fighters.
Although, in what was one of the biggest upsets in MMA in 2014, she was finished by the hands of Herica Tiburcio two months ago in the main event of Invicta FC 10.
If she does get signed to the promotion, we can assume she would be moving up in weight to compete in the strawweight division.
Despite coming off a loss, the UFC signing would make sense because she would add some depth to the brand new division. Waterson is currently still under contract with the women’s promotion, but a buyout wouldn’t be unreasonable.
Several strawweights are currently left without an opponent, including top 10 Randa Markos and Juliana Lima.
UFC women’s strawweight champ Carla Esparza defends her title for the first time, against No. 1 contender Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the co-main event of UFC 185 next month.
